Man pleads guilty in 2011 Hazleton homicide
Jun. 5—WILKES-BARRE — A man arrested last June in the Dominican Republic for a 2011 fatal shooting in Hazleton entered a guilty plea on a count of voluntary manslaughter on Friday.
Willis Gonzalez, 31, appeared on Friday before Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough for a hearing, during which he entered the plea of guilty on the voluntary manslaughter charge.
Gonzalez was extradited back to Pennsylvania from the Dominican Republic last summer after having been on the lam for nearly a decade after police say he killed Juda Hope, 23, outside Penn Palace on North Wyoming and Green streets in Hazleton in January 2011.
Gonzalez was tracked to the Dominican Republic after U.S. Marshals and Hazleton detectives spent more than nine years pursuing leads.
Hope was one of two people killed that night, with Gonzalez shooting him during a large fight that also left Vladimar Ruiz, 21, dead.
Authorities said a meeting was set up at the night club to settle a dispute between Ruiz and Angel Sanchez. Surveillance footage from the time showed a group of men gathering outside Penn Palace, when Ruiz was beaten and then fatally stabbed. An autopsy showed he died from a stab wound to the heart.
Sanchez pleaded guilty to third degree murder in June 2012, being sentenced to 17 to 34 years in state prison.
Meanwhile, a third defendant, Rodolfo Hiraldo Perez, was convicted of first degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison in May 2012. Authorities say Perez prevented several people from trying to help Ruiz. A video showed Sanchez taking a knife and stabbing Ruiz and Perez stomping on Ruiz's head before the two run away.
Gonzalez, for his part, was immediately sentenced on Friday, being ordered to spend between 54 and 108 months, or four-and-a-half to nine years, in state prison. He was given 458 days credit for time served. He will also be required to pay roughly $3,000 in costs of prosecution.
Gonzalez was remanded to await assignment to a state prison.
